The Lucky Ducks
by Dr. Phil E. Sophical
Summary: She was a lonely girl taking the midnight train to get anywhere else. He was a street working con struggling to get by. What will happen when their paths cross? Only time will tell.
1. Midnight Train

**The Lucky Ducks**

**I had this idea a while ago, and I've finally decided to turn it into a story. Granted it won't be a very long one (I expect three chapters at most) but I think it will be a good one. So without further ado…**

* * *

**Chapter 1: Midnight Train**

Saffron City has been called many things: "Shining, golden land of commerce", "Shining Big City" "The city that never sleeps", some even go as far as calling it "The city where dreams are made of". This beautiful metropolis has become quite well known through the years, and with good reason. What you find within the limits of this sprawling urban paradise is something you will never find anywhere else.

First there's Silph Co. Headquarters. They are quite well known as the leading manufacturer of technology in the world. Everything comes from Silph Co. Pokeballs do. Repels do. Revives do. Everything does. In the entire world, there is not a company better known the Silph Co.

Saffron City is also known for being one of only a handful of cities that has two gyms. The first is the official Saffron City Gym, the home of Sabrina, who has an outstanding reputation as a psychic type trainer. The second is the Fighting Dojo. Even though it is not officially affiliated with the Pokémon league, it has made quite a reputation for itself too. In fact, is not uncommon for gym leaders from any region to show up for a few battles with anyone who may be passing through.

Then there's the magnet train station, offering direct service to Johto's Goldenrod City. As a result of its establishment, Saffron City has become one of the main transportation hubs of the Kanto region.

Of course, like every city, there are parts of the city that aren't so nice. In Saffron City, the city is divided by the magnet train tracks. Both Silph Co. and the Saffron City are located on the south side of the tracks. Almost every notable landmark in Saffron City is. A vast majority of the populations stays on the south side. Few people dare venture north of the tracks, and they have good reason to do so.

You see, Saffron City is divided into two very different social classes, and each of the classes has taken residence in a different part of the city. In a sense, the two halves of Saffron City are almost like different towns altogether.

Of the two sides, the south side is the richer one. The people that live south of the tracks are typically wealthy families or individuals. They need to be. Of all the world's cities, Saffron City has one of the highest costs of living. Along with the high living cost comes a high standard of living. Citizens of Saffron City are some of the highest in the social class system.

The north side is a different story. Poverty and disease run wild. The standard of living is significantly lower than most of the world. Money is not something you come by easily on the north side of the tracks.

As a result of the poor economic status of the north side, it is not unusual to find con artists lining the sides of the streets. They have no choice. For many north side residents, scamming is there only reliable source of income. The crime rates are so high on the north side that police have stopped attempting to fix them. No cop responds to a call from the north side.

It is this kind of discrimination that makes the problem that much worse. No one really knows how the division of the city began, but anyone and everyone knows why it has gotten worse. Regardless of how or why, it's sadly the truth. Saffron City is a system of shining utopias and filthy slums. That's just the way it is.

Our story doesn't actually start here though. No, our story starts in another region: the Johto region. To be specific, Goldenrod City. A city which is quite different from Saffron City.

You see, unlike most cities, there are no real "Goldenrod Slums". The people there aren't exorbitantly rich, but they do get by better than most people. There's no real bad part of the town. Unlike most cities and towns, wealth in Goldenrod City is fairly evenly distributed, but that's not important. At least, it's not important to our story. Our story is about someone else.

* * *

A young brunette strolled along the streets of Goldenrod City. Her name was May. She was a beautiful young woman who came from a rich family. She had initially lived with her parents in Petalburg City, in the Hoenn region. Her father had been the gym leader there, before becoming a member of the region's Elite Four. Her mother had been a successful business woman. All together they were quite well off as a family.

As is tradition, at the age of ten, May set off on her Pokémon journey. Initially, she took an interest in contests. She traveled through three of the five regions, competing in the Grand Festival of each. Soon afterwards however, she quit her Pokémon journey and participation in contests. She still traveled, but she no longer competed.

That's not to say her journey was a total loss. She had made many good friends on her journey even though she traveled alone. Not to mention that, even though she didn't know it at the time, she met her future fiancé while on her journey. Even if she hadn't won anything big, she had still gained something from her travels.

However, he parents were too happy with her decision. They didn't mind that she had quit her journey. They really didn't care. What annoyed them was that their daughter insisted on continuing to travel, even though she had no means of providing for herself. Her younger brother was still on his journey, but he had still found time to work for Professor Oak.

In order to avoid a financial disaster, her parents arranged to have her married. For several weeks they searched for a suitor. Finally, they stumbled upon the perfect candidate. He came from a wealthy family, and his success as a Pokémon top-coordinator provided him with adequate financial security. As an added bonus, it was someone May had already met on her journey.

Feeling they had found the perfect groom for their daughter, May's parents set to work on making the wedding happen. At first, the groom's parents were more than a little hesitant to have their son married at the young age of eighteen, but eventually, May's parents were able to convince them. They saw to it that the two were engaged, and arranged for the wedding ceremony to take place in just a few weeks' time.

There was one slight problem with their plan. May was traveling through Johto when they arranged the marriage. She was completely unaware of her engagement until she received a video call at the Violet City Pokémon Center one night.

* * *

"Hello darling." Her mother had said when she saw her daughter's face appear on the screen. "How have your travels been?"

"They've been fine." May replied. "Why did you call?" She asked bluntly. She was curious. Her parents never called her. She always called them. Why had they changed that?

"Well we've got some big news sweetie." Her dad said, appearing on the side of the screen.

"What?" May questioned.

"Well…" Her father began.

"You're engaged!" Her mother shouted cheerily.

"What?" May practically screamed. "I don't remember any guy proposing!"

"Well that's the thing honey," Her mother began to explain. "We've arranged the whole thing for you. We've got the wedding planned in three weeks."

"You arranged my marriage!" May shouted. From the tone of her voice, her parents could tell it wasn't a question.

"Listen darling-" Her mother began.

"No you listen!" May shot back. She was cut off by her father.

"Sweetie…" Her father began. He spoke with a voice that was calm and collected. "Your mother and I know what's best for you. You've got to trust us on this. You'll be better off with this man."

"Well who is he?" May queried.

"You remember your rival, Drew, right?" Her mother asked.

"No." May said.

"You know, the green-haired boy-" Her mother started explaining his appearance.

"I know what he looks like." May interrupted. "Yes, I remember him. No, I will not agree to marry him!"

"I'm afraid you don't have a choice." Her father replied. "We've had this arranged for weeks now. It's too late to change it."

"You mean I've been engaged for the past couple of weeks without even knowing it?" May questioned.

"Well we would have let you know sooner, but we can't contact you when you're not at a Pokémon center." Her mother explained.

May was going to say something, but her father spoke before she got the chance. "We've arranged for you to meet Drew in Goldenrod City in a week."

"So? Why do I care?" May questioned.

"You're going to have dinner with him." Her mother replied. "We've already made a reservation for you two at this wonderful little café."

May would have argued. She wanted to argue. She was about to argue, but then she remembered what had happened the last time she went against her parents. They ended up getting what they wanted, and May had to spend the next month at home as the gym's cleaning lady. That was one experience she did not want to repeat. No sane person would. After all, you'd be surprised at how big of a mess one slaking can make.

In the end, May decided it would be pointless to argue. "Okay." She said.

"Great." Her mother replied. "I hope you have a wonderful time."

May ended the call. She was engaged. She hated it.

* * *

That had happened a week ago. Now she wandered along the sidewalks of Goldenrod City looking for the café her parents had chosen.

'_Mama Donna's' _The brunette thought to herself as she scanned the buildings along the side of the road. '_Where are you Mama Donna's'_

Unfortunately, her search proved to be fruitless. No matter how hard she tried, she was unable to find a sign that said "Mama Donna's".

It probably didn't help that she continued to get lost amongst the city. She couldn't help it. Everything looked the same to her. Each massive steel skyscraper seemed just like the last to the young brunette. To her, trying to find one café in the massive city was like trying to find a needle in a haystack.

Eventually, she gave up her search and decided to ask for help. She found a young man standing by the curb and decided to see if he knew where the café was.

"Excuse me sir-" She began, tapping the young man's shoulder.

"Taxi!" He shouted, raising his right arm.

At that point, a bright yellow cab pulled up to the curb. The man got in and shut the door, completely ignoring May's presence. The vehicle pulled away from the curb and sped off.

"Well that's just great!" May shouted.

"Pardon me," A voice said from behind her. "Are you lost?"

May turned around to face the man. He was wearing a gray trench coat, a grey fedora, and a pair of grey pants. All in all he appeared to be rather shady, but May decided to ignore that. After all, it was certainly better than aimlessly walking around the city on her own.

"Could you tell me how to get to Mama Donna's Café?" She asked.

"The stranger paused to think. "It seems familiar." He said, before pausing briefly again.

"Do you know where it is?" The young brunette asked.

"I believe I do." The stranger replied. "Head over to the magnet train station. The café is right across the street."

"Okay." May replied. "How do I get to the magnet train station from here?"

"Well if I were you," The man began. "I would try and catch a cab. It would be an awfully long way to walk from here."

"What do you mean?" May questioned.

"Well don't you know?" The stranger asked. He paused briefly waiting for a response. May shook her head. "Well I'm afraid the train station is on the other side of the city."

"Oh, okay." May responded. "Thank you for your help sir."

"Anytime." The man replied, and he walked off. May was slightly worried when she saw him turn down a particularly dark looking ally, but she decided to ignore it.

Now May was faced with a new problem: getting a cab. May had only been to Goldenrod City a handful of times before, only once or twice before, so she didn't know a whole lot about the city. She did, however, know one thing: it is no easy task to catch a cab in such a big city.

Regardless of what she already knew, May tried. She spent the next fifteen minute on the side of the road screaming at passing cabs. It was a fruitless effort. No one stopped to pick her up.

Eventually, May accepted that she would never be able to get a cab, and she started walking towards the other side of the city. It was a long walk, and it definitely wasn't a walk May wanted to take, but she had no other choice.

The walk ended up taking her nearly two hours. It wouldn't have been terrible if something had happened along the way, but that wasn't the case. The whole walk was fairly uneventful. Literally, nothing happened.

Finally, after a long search, followed by an even longer walk, May found the café she was looking for.

It was a nice little café. It wasn't very big, but it was nice. There were tables and chairs spread along the sidewalk, under the overhang of the building's roof. The building itself seemed rather out of place in the big city. It was a small brick building with ivy climbing up the outside walls. The whole set-up seemed positively out of place with the circumambient city.

May approached the maître d', who was stationed at a small wooden podium just outside of the front door. He was a fairly young man, most likely in his late twenties. He wore a black suit with a white undershirt, black slacks, and a pair of wire rimmed glasses.

"I have a reservation." She said.

"Name please." The maître d' inquired.

"I believe it's under Maple." May replied.

The man searched through some papers on the podium until he found the one he was looking for. "Ah yes." He said. "Reservation for two?"

"That's right." May replied.

"Right this way." He said, and gestured for her to follow him.

He led her to a small table on the sidewalk. She took a seat and turned to face the young man. "Thank you." She said.

"You're welcome." He replied. "Would you like to see a menu now, or would you like to wait for him." He gestured towards the empty seat across the table from the young brunette.

May didn't really know how to respond. She was certainly hungry, and she really didn't care about her "date", but she didn't want to seem rude. Well, she didn't want her parents to think she had been rude. She could care less about what Drew thought. "I'll wait." She finally said.

"Very well." He replied, and walked back to his podium.

* * *

It was a long and lonely night. May must have waited for hours. Drew didn't show up. She just sat there at the table on the sidewalk waiting. He still didn't come.

May was furious. It was bad enough that she was being forced to marry him. It was worse that he didn't even have the courtesy to show up for dinner, or, at the very least, call to cancel. Oddly enough, it wasn't Drew that May was mad at. It was her parents. They were the ones who had arranged this. It was their fault.

It was some time just before midnight when Drew finally showed up. May was still sitting at the table on the sidewalk. The maître d' still stood at his podium. He would have left, but they had a policy not to close for the night while there were still customers waiting. He hated when he had to work overtime, but he had no choice. It was that, or lose his job.

Anyways, Drew finally showed up. By then, it had started to rain, and May had started to doze off. Seeing his fiancé asleep, Drew slowly approached her and leaned in. Slowly, their lips met in a kiss.

And that's when she spit in his mouth.

Needless to say, Drew was surprised by this. He didn't quite understand just how much May hated the idea of having to marry him. Unfortunately for him, he didn't think about how he responded to May's actions. It was pure reflex when he struck her across the face.

May didn't even bother to say anything. She just stood up and ran. She didn't know where she was running to. She didn't care. All she wanted was to get away from Drew, who insisted on following after her, calling out his apology.

May made her decision. She changed directions and ran towards the train station. She ran into the building. She threw a handful of bills at the man working the ticket booth, before hopping the turn-style, and sprinting onto the train, just as the doors closed.

The train sped off. Drew tried to run after it, but it's pretty hard to catch a train that's travelling at speed of over three hundred miles an hour.

May took a seat. She didn't know where she was going. She didn't care. She was on the midnight train going anywhere other than where she was. She was perfectly fine with that. Soon after sitting down, May broke down and cried.

* * *

May woke up with someone shaking her shoulders. She looked up, expecting to see Drew, but instead she saw the conductor.

"Excuse me ma'am, but we've reached the end of the line. I'm going to have to ask you to leave." He said.

"Where are we?" She returned.

"Saffron City." The conductor replied. "It seems you fell asleep on the way here."

"Oh." That was all May said.

May got up, thanked the conductor, and made her way off the train and onto the station platform. She made her way through the exit turn-style and out into the streets. Without thinking about, she turned north and crossed the railroad tracks. It made no difference to her where she went. She was just glad she wasn't with Drew anymore. Besides, the sun hadn't even come up yet. She wasn't focused on thinking.

May walked along the street in silence. Even though it was still early in the morning, the north side of Saffron City was still a lively place. People lined the street sides. Some were selling things. Some were begging for spare change. Others said and did nothing. Much like May, they just went along their way in silence.

As she walked along the street, May came upon a young man. His hair was raven black. He wore a blue jacket and a red baseball cap with a green Pokémon League logo on it. His whole attire seemed somewhat tattered. In front of him there was a cardboard box, which had been turned upside down as a makeshift table, with three playing cards resting on top of it.

"Test your luck. Think you have what it takes to win? Simple game. All bets accepted." The young man called out.

May walked over to him. She reached into her pocket and pulled out a one-hundred dollar bill. She tossed it down on the box. After all, it was her parent's money.

* * *

**Ok, I'm sorry to any Drew fans out there, but I needed a villain, and he fit the role. Sorry if you've got a problem with that.**

**Anyways, I hope you liked it, and don't forget to read and review.**


	2. People

**Chapter 2: People**

**Wow. It's definitely been a while since I've worked on this, and I sincerely apologize for such a delay. Sometimes life just takes its own path.**

**Anyways, I figure it's about time that I wrap up this little short-story, so without further ado, here's the second, and final, chapter.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Pokémon.**

* * *

"Well don't you seem confident?" The man behind the box asked, not really expecting an answer to his question.

"What's the game?" The brunette retorted.

The Saffron-con flipped over the three playing cars that sat on the box. "Three Card Monte," he declared. "As you can see, there are two black cards and a red card. I'm going to flip these cards over and shuffle the around, and all you have to do is keep track of the red card. You guess right, I pay you. You guess wrong, I keep your money." The man explained.

"Seems fair enough." May replied.

Of course, the girl couldn't have been any more wrong. Con games are rarely ever fair, especially on the north side of Saffron City. In those parts, as in several other places in the world, card game scams were about as common as Pidgey's in Kanto, and Three Card Monte was the most common. You'd be hard pressed to find a man there who didn't know the game, and how to assure his own victory when he was dealing.

Of course, May wasn't aware of any of that. As is too often the case with richer folk, she had been sheltered from such, shall we say, culture. Albeit, in her state, she really didn't care…

"You ready?" The raven haired man asked.

"I guess." May replied.

The dealer proceeded to flip the cards face down. Then, ever so slowly, he began to carefully slide them around on the box, sometimes in full circles, sometimes switching two cards, and occasionally picking them up and setting them down.

May couldn't understand how it was possible to lose the game. It was so simple that even a child could do it. Heck, some Pokémon could probably manage the feat. The man's movements were slower than a slaking stuck in a pit full of tar.

After a minute or so of shuffling, the dealer stopped. "Where's the red card?" He questioned.

May was feeling confident and didn't hesitate to respond. "That one." She said, pointing to the card she knew to be the red one.

The raven haired con proceeded to flip over the card May had indicated to reveal, much to her surprise, that she had guessed wrong.

"Oh, too bad." He said, grabbing the money off the box. "Looks like it got away from you."

May remained silent.

"Beginner's bad luck." The dealer continued. "Why don't you give it another shot?"

"Alright." May said, pulling another bill out of her pocket and placing it on the cardboard box in front of her.

He proceeded to flip over the cards, shuffle them as he had before, and prompted May with the question. "Which card is the red one?"

Doubting that she could mess up twice, May pointed at the card she was certain was the right one. "That one."

Once again the con flipped over the card May had chosen to reveal that she was, once again, wrong. He cleared the money off the box before he spoke. "Maybe you just need to concentrate a little more." He suggested.

"Maybe you're right." May agreed. She reached into her pocket and pulled out even more of her parents' money.

It went on that way for quite some time. The dealer shuffled his cards, May guessed, May was wrong, the dealer took her money, and then he managed to hook her into trying again. Her ignorance was his best friend.

Of course, not everyone in the world was so foolish in that part of the city. Though May never noticed, she may have found it quite peculiar had she noticed that no one else ever came to play the game. She was alone with the dealer the whole time.

Now, had it been her own money instead of her parents', then she may have been a little more careful, but it wasn't, so she had no problem pushing on with vain hopes that she would eventually win _something_.

* * *

After several hours, Ash, the dealer, was surprised to find that the girl had not yet quit. Normally, as in when he actually got some business, players walked away after just one or two losses, and if not, he would most often pack up his box and leave, for fear of being revealed should he dare stay longer. However, this was different. Besides the fact that he was making more off of this one girl than he usually saw in months, something inside of him just wouldn't let him leave. Some unconscious force was keeping him there, with her.

Her on the other hand? She just didn't care enough to bother with leaving. She was far away from all her troubles. Far away from Drew. Far away from her parents. Far away from everything she had been forced into. Despite her anger, a small part of her felt something different: content.

So time drug on. Early morning turned to morning, morning turned to day, and, eventually, day would turn to evening, and then to night. As the sun arced overhead, May stayed, continuing to play the game, retaining her ignorance.

Normally, Ash was very formal and businesslike with his operations, because to him, it _was_ business. It was his way of earning his meager restitution. Sure it wasn't much, but it was enough to keep him alive and, for the most part, well.

However, this case was different. As time wore on, Ash gradually lost his businessman composure. As the day progressed, and as May continued her fruitless attempts, he started to act more and more casual, eventually starting to converse freely with her.

"So," He began. "What's up with you?" He questioned.

"What do you mean?" May replied, as he revealed that she had lost yet again.

"Well, you seem…different." He said. "You definitely aren't from around here, are you?"

"No." She replied, watching intently as he moved the cards around on the box.

"I could tell." He replied. "So then what are you doing here?" He queried.

"It's a long story." She responded with a sigh.

"Well, we've got the time." He said. "Unless of course, you'll be going somewhere."

"Fine." She caved. "I'll tell you."

May proceeded to detail all that had happened recently. She mentioned her parents arranging her marriage, how she met with Drew, and how that led to her presence on the wrong side of the rail road tracks in Saffron City.

"So, it seems like you don't exactly like your parents, right?" The con questioned.

"You don't know the half of it." The brunette replied, shaking her head. "I hate them. They hate me. Some family we are…"

"I wouldn't be so harsh judging them." The raven haired man declared.

"And why is that?" May doubted.

"Well, they _are_ your parents." He explained. "They're just trying to do what they feel is best for you, and that's why you're lucky. A lot of people would kill, and I mean that both figuratively and literally, to have what you have. I mean, sure, they may not seem so great at times, but they only want what's in your best interest."

"Really?" May questioned. "I would do anything just so I wouldn't have to deal with them anymore."

"Really?" The raven haired man replied. "I'd think you'd be happy. I mean, at least you've got a family…"

"Trust me." She stated. "They aren't all they're cracked up to be."

"I still don't think what you're doing to them is fair." He added hesitantly.

"Fair?" She asked quietly, _too_ quietly. "Fair!" She was shouting at this point. They've been everything _but_ fair to me! Everything I do has to be what they tell me to do. What they think, I have to think. Family? I'd sell that any day for my free will."

"Don't talk like that." Ash responded, suddenly becoming serious. "They love you. Unconditionally, they love you, and you're lucky to have that."

"Oh really?" May retorted, close to tears. "How would you know?"

Ash completely disregarded her question. "And did you ever stop to think that maybe the problem is you? You're just like all the other rich people. You've never had to work a day in your life. Everything you've ever wanted has been handed to you on a silver platter, but do you appreciate it? No. You don't. All any of you ever do is sit there and complain about how you have it _so_ hard. You don't know the meaning of the word!"

May would have said something, but Ash's rant was unrelenting as time wore on.

"…I hope you're happy." He spat out.

"I-uh-I-I" May couldn't respond.

And following that moment, you could quite literally feel the awkwardness that hung in the silent air, for it was so thick that you couldn't cut it with the sharpest knife in the drawer.

Unfortunately, silence never lasts long. But then again, what can you expect of something that is broken whenever someone says its name?

The high pitched scream and wail of sirens pierced the air. No, not the melodious, albeit deadly, songs of the Sirens of ancient mythology. I'm talking about the ear-shattering screech that makes you jealous of the hearing impaired elderly, who can simply turn off their hearing with the flip of a switch. Yes, it was that bad.

In the short blink of an eye, May realized that she was alone. Ash was gone, and nowhere to be found.

May looked around and saw a somewhat horrifying sight. She saw people walking aimlessly, some shouting endlessly, some laughing relentlessly, some crying eternally. It was the kind of chaos that hadn't existed since the universe was but an empty void of pure nothingness, and yet, May had no idea why. All she knew was that police were approaching the place where she now sat by an empty, overturned cardboard box, something that, had she known more about where she was at the time, she would know to be far too strange to be real.

Not knowing why, she started running.

She didn't know why.

She didn't know where.

She didn't know what from.

All she knew was that she was running, and no matter where she ran, or how far she travelled, the chaos never lessened.

At this point, all her higher consciousness had dissolved. All that kept her running was pure primal instinct.

May didn't know why, but she knew she had to get away from whatever may lie behind her.

She kept running. She kept getting faster. The sirens grew louder. Her progress grew slower. The land seemed to stretch underneath her feet, making whatever safe haven she could find just that much further away.

She tripped.

She screamed.

She awoke.

* * *

May looked around to find herself in a white walled room, sitting on a hard-backed wooden chair with her head in somebody's lap.

She looked up to find whose leg her head was now resting on.

It was him, Ash.

With a sad smile, he gestured to somebody else in the room.

That's when May saw the doctor, and that's when everything came flooding back to her.

She knew why she was in a hospital waiting room. She knew why Ash was with her. She knew that whatever news the doctor had wouldn't be good.

"You can go in and say your goodbyes." The doctor said with sympathetic solemnity.

May got up from her seat and started walking towards the destination she knew she must face.

Ever since her father had been killed in the fire, May had held a sort of resentment for her mother. May couldn't explain why, but at that point she seemed to blame all her troubles on her parents. He wasn't there. She wasn't enough. All was not right in the brunette's world.

But now was different.

Something in that dream had spoken to her. She realized what she should have realized before. She was lucky. Lucky to have her parents. Sure, she didn't always agree with everything they said, did, or decided, but at least she had a family. She had a safe haven in the chaos. She had somewhere, rather, some_one_ to run to.

And she was wrong to have blamed her.

With a saddened, yet content, sigh, May pushed open the door to where the woman lay dying. The woman she was ready to forgive, because she was one of the lucky ones.

Yes indeed, as Streisand once sang, people who need other people are the luckiest people in the world.

* * *

**Wow. Never have I hated my own work with so much passion. The start was okay, but this second chapter deserves to be burned.**

**Honestly though, this fic sort of turned into Old Yeller. I could let it sit there and suffer, or I could go ahead and put it out of its misery…**

**C'est la vie, I guess.**

**Anyways, I wanted to get all my unfinished fics (barring **_**Love & Malice**_**) finished, so I can move onto my next project. One for which I have the greatest enthusiasm.**

**So, with this story coming to an end, I'm prepared to share work between **_**Love & Malice**_** and my next big project, which will be coming to you soon.**

**In the meantime, read, review, and print off a copy of this chapter to use as tinder the next time you burn something.**


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